[BUG] Read-aloud (TTS) voice broken: pitch drifts upward to chipmunk over time; voice setting does not apply

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The read-aloud / text-to-speech (voice) feature is broken and not working correctly.

1) Pitch drift: while a response is being read aloud, the voice progressively rises in pitch the longer it runs, until it sounds high and chipmunk-like instead of the selected voice. It gets worse over the course of the session.

2) Voice selection doesn't apply: changing the voice in Settings / General Preferences does not fix it. Tried multiple voices (Japanese, Italian) and the problem persists across all of them. Restarting the app does not resolve it.

Overall the voice modules feel completely broken and are not functioning optimally, which makes it hard to work by listening instead of reading. Platform: macOS.

What Should Happen?

The read-aloud voice should keep a stable, natural pitch for the entire response and across the whole session, matching the voice selected in Settings. Changing the voice in Settings should take effect immediately.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Enable read-aloud / TTS so responses are spoken in the macOS app.
2. Let it read a longer response, or several responses across a session.
3. Observe the voice pitch progressively rising the longer it speaks, ending up chipmunk-like instead of the chosen voice.
4. Go to Settings / General Preferences and change the voice (tried Japanese, then Italian).
5. Observe that changing the voice does not fix the behavior, and restarting the app does not resolve it.

Claude Model

_No response_

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.26832.0 (056ee2) 2026-08-06T05:43:05.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Unknown exact version — Claude Code desktop app on macOS (no CLI available to run claude --version); using the latest app build.